The surrender of 680,000 Japanese soldiers in South East Asia took place in the Council Chambers at the Municipal Buildings in Singapore on the 12th September 1945.

Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander (Southeast Asia) accepted the Japanese surrender by General Itagaki Seishiro in the Council Chambers. An interpreter, in white, presided over the signing between the two sides.

The Japanese, led by General Itagaki Seishiro left the Municipal Buildings after the short surrender ceremony.

The signing was followed by a celebration at the Padang, which also included a victory parade. The surrender document once again permitted the British to occupy Hong Kong, and China to regain sovereignty over Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Formosa and Hainan.

Field Marshall Count Hisaichi Terauchi, the Supreme Commander of the Japanese Southern Army, suffered a stroke on 10th May after hearing of the fall of Burma and could not make the journey to Singapore, he died very soon after the Singapore Surrender in a prisoner of war camp.

Major General Sir Charles Lane attended the Singapore ceremony and wrote a very detailed five page letter home with a good description of the events in Singapore on that day.